Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) has decided to reduce its stake in Renesas Electronics in a bid to improve the Japanese chipmaker’s liquidity and investor base.

Other sellers participating in the transaction are Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC.

Daiwa Securities, JP Morgan, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have been engaged to underwrite the offer of 403.14 million shares or a 24.2 per cent stake of the company’s enlarged capital.

Based on Renesas’ last close of JPY 973.00 (USD 8.73) apiece on 17th May, the shareholders could fetch about JPY 392.25 billion.

The final offer price will be disclosed by 14th June, and closing is expected on 22nd June.

Based in Tokyo, Renesas claims to be a global supplier of microcontrollers, as well as other analogue, power and system-on-chip products for a wide range of industries including the automotive, home electronics and information technology sectors.

In February, the group completed the acquisition of Intersil, a Californian semiconductor manufacturer listed on Nasdaq, for about USD 3.20 billion.

For the three months ended 30th March 2017, Renesas reported JPY 177.60 billion in net sales, an increase of 5.8 per cent from JPY 167.80 billion in the corresponding timeframe last year.

With an investment capacity of about JPY 2,000 billion, INCJ focuses on the promotion of Japanese domestic businesses.

Sources told Reuters that the sale could prepare the government-backed fund for the potential bid for Toshiba’s chip unit, which is currently worth at least JPY 2,000 billion.

Last year, INCJ offered about JPY 300.00 billion for a majority stake in Sharp to revive the struggling consumer electronics manufacturer, but lost the race to Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry.

Earlier this week, the fund teamed up with Rakuten and other backers for a JPY 3.20 billion investment in marketing consultancy service provider From Scratch.